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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25011682">Horning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnsubstantiatedAssertion/pseuds/UnsubstantiatedAssertion'>UnsubstantiatedAssertion</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Times Sarai Embarassed Her Parents [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, Gen, Inspired by "The Speculative Biology of Elf Horns" by spontaneite, Post-Series, Rayllum, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:47:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,187</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25011682</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnsubstantiatedAssertion/pseuds/UnsubstantiatedAssertion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Aw! She's hornin'!"</p><p>"She's what?"</p><p>"Her horns are comin' in. Y'know, like teethin', but for horns."</p><p>A loose sequel to "Jerkface Dance 2: The Jerkfacening" about the further misadventures of the now adult Callum and Rayla, and their infant daughter Sarai.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Times Sarai Embarassed Her Parents [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>125</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Horning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/17989583">The Speculative Biology of Elf Horns</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/spontaneite/pseuds/spontaneite">spontaneite</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So here's a follow-up to "Jerkface Dance 2: The Jerkfacening" with a slightly older Sarai. Its a series now! The previous story isn't required to understand anything in this one, however.</p><p>This specific scenario was inspired by a passage from spontaneite's "The Speculative Biology of Elf Horns:"</p><p>"The horn bud is likely to have unusually pronounced nerve growth around it, both prenatally and in infancy, meaning it will be an especially sensitive area on the infant. It’s hard to say what form of sensitivity this would take – could be ticklish, could be soothing. Consider a concept: elf parents stroking their newborn babies’ hornbeds as a common form of affection. Some of this sensitivity around the base of the horn could well remain later into the elf’s life – while it wouldn’t be as sensitive as in an infant, it’s possible that the skin around the bases of elves’ horns could be noticeably more sensitive than the rest of the scalp."</p><p>The idea of elf parents soothing their babies via the hornbeds seemed both really cute and reminded me of teething. So I thought, what if teething but for horns?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>From the moment Sarai took her first, clumsy steps, Callum knew she was going to take after her mother. Sarai ran almost as soon as she could walk. It quickly proved to be one of her favorite pastimes, even if, at only a year old, she couldn't make it more than a few feet before inevitably tumbling to the ground. Depending on her mood, Sarai would either burst into giggles or tears, or sometimes both, then took off again once one of her parents calmed her down.</p><p>So when Callum saw his daughter half-running half-stumbling towards him, her head down and arms behind her in perfect imitation of Rayla, he noted how adorable she looked and thought nothing more of it. He turned his attention back to more pressing matters. His aunts were to arrive from Lux Aurea any moment now, their first visit since Sarai's birth.</p><p>They'd all gathered outside the castle gates: himself, Rayla, Sarai, and Ezran. Soren came too, and was more exited than any of them. The conflict of interest with Amaya being queen consort of Lux Aurea forced her to step down as the general of Katolis' army. The obvious choice for her sucecssor was... not Soren, and he saw this as an yet another opportunity to get Amaya to reconsider. No one had the heart to tell him that Amaya ceased having any authority over who the general would be when she first appointed her replacement.</p><p>Sarai charged, head first, directly into her father's legs. Callum shouted, more out of surprise than pain, but was still caught off guard enough for the blow to send him sprawling on the ground. Everyone gathered around the two while Callum sat up. Sarai continued her attack, repeatedly butting her head against Callum's chest.</p><p>"Hey! She swept your leg! But with her head!" Soren exclaimed. "Kid's a natural."</p><p>"Are you okay? Is Sarai okay?" Ezran asked.</p><p>"I'm fine," Callum answered, "and I think she's okay too."</p><p>Sarai responded with a string of baby talk vaguely resembling a mixture of "Dada" and "ow."</p><p>"What's gotten into you?" Callum held Sarai close to calm her and hopefully stop her from headbutting him again. She compensated by rubbing the top of her head against him instead.</p><p>Rayla gasped, drawing the other's attention to her. She'd remained silent throughout the incident, trying to figure out what was going on. There was something deeply familiar about Sarai's behavior. Finally understanding, Rayla's face split into a huge grin.</p><p>"Aw! She's hornin'!" Rayla couldn't have sounded more proud.</p><p>"She's what?" Callum asked.</p><p>"Her horns are comin' in. Y'know, like teethin', but for horns."</p><p>"So this," Callum nodded towards Sarai, who was still using him as scratching post, "is normal? She's not in pain or anything, right?"</p><p>"Its perfectly normal. One time I got my head stuck in a banister at Ethari and Runaan's house lookin' for somethin' to rub my head against. On tha' note, we should probably keep her away from any stairs for a little while."</p><p>Rayla knelt down and spread her arms wide. "Come here, sweetie."</p><p>Callum let go of Sarai and she crawled into Rayla's lap. Rayla parted Sarai's brown hair, exposing her horn buds. With her thumb and index finger, Rayla began to massage the little nubs and the scalp around them. The effect was almost instantaneous. Sarai practically went limp in her mother's arms.</p><p>"Tha' feels better, doesn't it?"</p><p>The site in front of him left Callum with a goofy, love struck smile. It brought back memories of a night long ago. With Callum reminiscing and Rayla focused on Sarai, neither realized that Soren and Ezran had slipped away.</p><hr/><p>It had been one week since they returned to Katolis after the battle at the Storm Spire. He'd awoken to Rayla's screams. Callum was out of bed in an instant and rushing to the other end of the room. They'd both had nightmares ever since the battle, but while Callum's started to fade once they returned home, Rayla's only grew worse. Her cries suggested this nightmare was a particularly bad one.</p><p>He grabbed Rayla by the shoulders, trying to wake her.</p><p>"Callum!" Rayla sat up and shouted, still half-dreaming.</p><p>Callum held her close. "It's okay, I'm here. Everything's fine. You're fine. I'm fine. Ezran's fine; I don't know if he was in your dream but I'm just covering all bases."</p><p>Now fully awake, Rayla sighed and buried her face in the crook of Callum's neck. He didn't bother asking what her nightmare had been about. There would be time for that later.</p><p>"Everything's okay," Callum repeated. He brushed his hand through her hair, starting at the back of her horns and continuing down to the nape of her neck. Each time he his hand reached her the base of her horns, Rayla shivered a little. Callum wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, but Rayla wasn't complaining.</p><p>"Callum?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"This is gonna sound weird."</p><p>"Try me. After everything we've been through, it'd take something pretty out there to sound weird to me."</p><p>"Could you... massage the skin around my horns? My parents used to do it when I was little."</p><p>"Uh, sure." Callum placed his hands atop Rayla's head. "Like this?" He started to massage the base of her horns, like he was kneading dough.</p><p>Rayla sighed happily. "Yes, just like tha'."</p><p>As she relaxed, Callum watched in awe as all the tension bled out of Rayla's body. He'd never seen her this calm, her guard totally down. Then he noticed a soft, rumbling noise coming from somewhere in the room. It almost sounded like...</p><p>"Are you <em>purring</em>?"</p><p>"Of course not!" Rayla glared up at Callum. "I'm not a cat!"</p><p>"Well it sounded like purring to me."</p><p>"Yer bein' ridiculous."</p><p>Callum shrugged. "Fine, but if you start thumping one of your legs..."</p><p>"Tha's dogs, dummy!" Rayla giggled. "If yer goin' to compare me to an animal, at least be consistent."</p><hr/><p>Snapping back to the present, Callum knew at once what he needed to do. He sat down behind Rayla and started massaging the base of her horns while Rayla continued to do the same to Sarai.</p><p>"Feeling better now, too?" Callum teased.</p><p>Rayla closed her eyes and leaned against him in lieu of a response. The little family stayed like that for a moment, a picture of contentment. It could only last for so long.</p><p>"They're here!" Ezran called out. He and Soren approached with Amaya and Janai in tow.</p><p>Callum and Rayla froze. They'd completely forgotten why they were sitting in front of the castle gates in the first place. Sarai meanwhile, had actually fallen asleep thanks to the relief from her horning pains.</p><p>"Are we interrupting something?" Soren asked, his head cocked, trying to make sense of what they were doing.</p><p>"It's an elf thing," Rayla hastily explained.</p><p>Ezran had the same look on his face as when he happened upon a particularly cute baby animal and Janai was chuckling to herself. Amaya, on the other hand, was very confused.</p><p><em>Wait</em>, Amaya signed to her wife, <em>that's not just a 'you' thing?</em></p>
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